Today’s Trailer (TV Edition): The Mindy Project

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Last November, Mindy Kaling—best known as a writer/producer/actor on The Officetold TIME that she was working on a pilot for NBC, in which she would play an obstetrician-gynocologist. Her mother is just such a doctor, and Kaling said that “there is something inherently funny about being an ob-gyn.” Now she can prove it: a trailer for her new show, The Mindy Project, was released yesterday. The show will air on FOX (not NBC, where Kaling has spent eight years at Dunder-Mifflin) and the network presented the teaser at their upfronts.

(MOREMindy Kaling Outside Office Hours)

Kaling’s character, named Mindy Lahiri, may have her professional life much more together than The Office‘s Kelly Kapoor does, but the character is instantly familiar: shiny shirts, rom-com references, dating disasters. Even interactions with Ed Helms. But maybe that’s not Kelly we’re recognizing, but rather—appropriately enough—Mindy, the Mindy behind all this. The lovable chaos that seems to define fictional-Mindy’s life, as it did Kelly’s, is also on display in real-Mindy’s essay collection, 2011’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), and on the actress’ epic Twitter feed.

(MOREThe 140 Best Twitter Feeds of 2011 – Mindy Kaling)

Based on these few minutes of preview—and if the verging-on-incessant use of a few months ago’s pop anthem “Domino” is any indication—Kaling seems to have found a medical-show vibe that’s safely nestled between Scrubs and Grey’s Anatomy, funny but not absurd, romantic but not melodramatic. And there’s a healthy dose of Doogie Howser in the equation too…particularly the episode where Wanda gets appendicitis and Doogie has to give her a pelvic exam. (Awkward!) As for the show’s other genre, that of sitcoms in which the protagonist has the same first name as the creator-star, here’s hoping it’s more I Love Lucy than Are You There, Chelsea?

Last November, Mindy Kaling—best known as a writer/producer/actor on The Officetold TIME that she was working on a pilot for NBC, in which she would play an obstetrician-gynocologist. Her mother is just such a doctor, and Kaling said that “there is something inherently funny about being an ob-gyn.” Now she can prove it: a trailer for her new show, The Mindy Project, was released yesterday. The show will air on FOX (not NBC, where Kaling has spent eight years at Dunder-Mifflin) and the network presented the teaser at their upfronts.

(MOREMindy Kaling Outside Office Hours)

Kaling’s character, named Mindy Lahiri, may have her professional life much more together than The Office‘s Kelly Kapoor does, but the character is instantly familiar: shiny shirts, rom-com references, dating disasters. Even interactions with Ed Helms. But maybe that’s not Kelly we’re recognizing, but rather—appropriately enough—Mindy, the Mindy behind all this. The lovable chaos that seems to define fictional-Mindy’s life, as it did Kelly’s, is also on display in real-Mindy’s essay collection, 2011’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), and on the actress’ epic Twitter feed.

(MOREThe 140 Best Twitter Feeds of 2011 – Mindy Kaling)

Based on these few minutes of preview—and if the verging-on-incessant use of a few months ago’s pop anthem “Domino” is any indication—Kaling seems to have found a medical-show vibe that’s safely nestled between Scrubs and Grey’s Anatomy, funny but not absurd, romantic but not melodramatic. And there’s a healthy dose of Doogie Howser in the equation too…particularly the episode where Wanda gets appendicitis and Doogie has to give her a pelvic exam. (Awkward!) As for the show’s other genre, that of sitcoms in which the protagonist has the same first name as the creator-star, here’s hoping it’s more I Love Lucy than Are You There, Chelsea?